Bitterroot Crossing by Tess Oliver Read Free Book Online

just pulling up our garden, scaring off the chickens, things like that. He was sitting on our fence when we arrived back at the farm. Your mama stepped out of the car and one of his crazy gusts of wind blew the coat off her shoulders. The locket was hanging around her neck. That darn ghost stood there stock still staring at the necklace. Then his image wavered and shrank up till he had disappeared completely. Haven’t seen him since. Least not ‘till now.” She lit the flames under the kettle and sat back down. “I knew sending you out there in the world was going to start trouble again.”
        Jessie reached over and covered her grandma’s hand with hers. “It’s too late to fret about that now, Nana. I’ve been out and Zedekiah knows I exist. What’s more, he’s not terribly bright. I think he still believes I’m Rebecca.”
        “I guess you’ve got to expect a guy made of vapor not to have a lot upstairs,” I added lamely. Jessie’s grandma focused on me now as if she’d forgotten I was there. “You’re the Crush boy, aren’t you? I knew it the minute I saw you. Handsome as the devil himself, and just as ornery, I’ll bet.” She winked at me and I didn’t really know how to respond so I just sat there for a second then shoved another bite of cake in my mouth.
        Jessie looked over at me. “You’ll have to excuse Nana. She has a tendency to blurt out whatever pops into her head.” She shot her grandma an admonishing look. “I wonder how to open it?” She picked at the locket in an attempt to pry the two sides apart. No luck. “What’s inside? It seems impossible to open.”
        “I’ve tried everything but a stick of dynamite,” her grandma said. “I can’t get it to budge. All I know, from stories my mother told me, is that the contents were so secretive only Rebecca herself knew what was inside.”
        The tea kettle whistled and we all startled simultaneously. Obviously the day’s events had left us all on edge. Her grandma stood to remove the kettle from the heat but stared at the flame before turning it off. “I think Zedekiah believes the contents of the locket will send him to hell for good. That’s why he fears it.” She returned to the table. “Ah, but I’m just making up theories. Who knows why he had such a strange reaction to it.”
        “He definitely changed his attitude when you mentioned it.” I put my hand out. “Can I try to open it?” It was small between my big fingers and in moments I felt like a clumsy oaf trying to pry the delicate thing open with my thick callused finger tips. I felt Jessie’s big green eyes on me so I stopped making a macho fool of myself and handed it back to her. “You’re right; dynamite may be the only thing to do the trick.”
        Jessie giggled and I realized the sound of it was even cuter than the little shrug thing she was doing earlier. She reached for the cup of tea her grandma handed her and took a tiny sip. Cutest little sip ever.
        “So, Nana, do you think if I wear the locket, it will keep Zedekiah away from me? Maybe if he sees it, he’ll leave again.”
        “No, Jessie, absolutely not. He might very well go after the locket this time. I think you’ll be safer without it. The man thinks you’re his beloved Rebecca. I don’t think he’ll harm you. As for the rest of the inhabitants of Bitterroot Crossing, now that Zedekiah is back, everyone is going to have to watch out for their own.”
     
     
    Chapter10
     
        “Isn’t that sweet? You brought your own lunch in a cute, flowered bag,” the girl’s voice came from behind, but I recognized it instantly as Nick’s friend, Tina. I turned. She was flanked on each side by other girls, similarly pretty and similarly bad-tempered.
        “Yes, I packed it this morning.” I cursed my luck. I’d made it past the swamp without meeting up with any lovesick spirits and through the entire morning without seeing this girl,